An interview with Delta CEO Ed Bastian: Atlanta, AI and his succession plan
Delta Air Lines is the largest private employer in metro Atlanta and one of the largest in the state.
The company is celebrating its 100th birthday this year, and its fate has been inextricably linked to that of its hometown since moving to Atlanta in 1941.
Delta’s centennial also coincides with that of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Eighty-four years ago, Atlanta competed with Birmingham for Delta’s headquarters, CEO Ed Bastian said in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Editorial Board.
“There was a big competition as to which city was going to build the airport and to be able to support Delta’s needs,” he said.
Metro Atlanta’s growth since that time has far surpassed that of the Birmingham region.
“It’s hard to dispute one of the most important pivot points in this city’s history: when the city fathers had the foresight to embrace aviation,” he said.
“We’re a beneficiary of that. We’ve obviously been a main investor as well, an active participant in that growth.”
In a wide-ranging discussion, Bastian, who has been CEO for nearly a decade, discussed Delta’s relationship with its hometown, its workforce, the company’s strategies around artificial intelligence and who might someday replace him.
“If there’s one complaint I have about Atlanta, it’s that people are very, very used to us. They love us, but they take us for granted,” he said with a smile. “We have a great thing going here and we all need to make certain that we understand the importance.”
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: How much do you expect AI to affect your more than 40,000 Atlanta employees? Is that workforce going to shrink as a result?
A: The workforce is not going to shrink.
When you think about aviation, it’s still largely dominated by human service, human judgment, human technical expertise. I’m not getting on any planes being flown by AI.
That said, there’s a lot of opportunity for us to change how we work.
One of them is in pricing.
All the insane speculation … assuming we’re going to have people taking personal information and trying to decide how much we can extract ... there’s nothing in our models that has ever been or ever will be, of that nature.
Pricing in our business is massive. We have literally millions of price points at any point of a day.
Anything we can do using smarter technology to be able to be more agile, to be able to be more flexible, to raise prices where it’s appropriate, to drop prices where it’s appropriate, that’s what we’re trying to learn.
The machines do run pricing, as we all know. It’s the only way you can keep up.
But we’ll never, ever, ever use AI to try to extract personalized information, personalized pricing. You couldn’t do it if you wanted to, it’s just too massive.
We have hundreds of people on our campus that work in revenue management and pricing.
(AI is) going to make the whole process a lot more efficient and the job a lot easier, but we still need them, because you’re never going to let the computers run it.
Q: Has the blowback changed your strategy on AI pricing?
A: It doesn’t change anything.
I think we have to make certain that people understand what it is … but no. (The technology) is what we do today — only doing it better.
Q: How important is Atlanta in your future calculus? Do you feel that Hartsfield-Jackson and its passenger experience is the right calling card for you?
A: Absolutely.
We like to say if you’re playing Monopoly, Hartsfield-Jackson is Park Place. You’re within a two-hour flight of 80% of the U.S. population.
Every single time you add a flight into Hartsfield-Jackson, there are multiple possibilities where that flight can take people beyond. Hartsfield is a connecting point.
Over 40% of our customers touch Atlanta somewhere on their journey on a global scale.
And the beautiful thing about Hartsfield is it also has room to expand. It was built in a very modular layout. There is room for a sixth runway.
We’ve shown over time that we’re very willing to invest alongside the city in making that happen.
The airport is massive; it’s a city. There’s always some maintenance need.
There’s a lot of areas that need continuous improvement. We’ve talked a lot about the concessionaires, the service, the clubs. There’s always a constant need to continue to grow.
You can find flaws in any airport … but this city does a good job.
Q: How is Atlanta doing in terms of workforce development?
A: I think Atlanta is doing better, but continued improvement is required, without a doubt.
We continue to work hand in hand with colleges, universities ... down into the high schools and elementary education.
COVID-19 changed a lot. It was almost an eruption where many people decided I’m going to retire, or I’m going to take a break.
It required us to go deep into that sourcing to make sure that we got real good quality people.
I was impressed with the amount of people we were able to hire in a very short period. It was a test of the system, and the system held up.
We have a significantly younger (workforce now), with different needs, different lifestyle, different expectations. That’s why we’ve carried more staffing than in the past.
Q: Will Atlanta be ready for the World Cup?
A: I think we’ll be ready. There’s a lot of people coming. We are going to make certain that we’re in the best shape possible from an aviation perspective.
Atlanta is known as a city that can put on large events. I’m a little more concerned about other cities.
Q: Over the course of the next year, how are you and how is Delta looking at the macro economy and the way you’re running your business?
A: Our business is well-positioned.
Our targeted consumer is households of $100,000 or more annually. That’s not an elitist definition, that’s 40% of the households in our country. That cohort makes up well over 90% of our revenue base and that consumer continues to do very well.
We’ve seen some impacts of the issues of immigration and tariffs. Our inbound visitors to the U.S. are down somewhat. But we still have a lot of Americans that are filling those planes.
So, on balance, given all the turmoil we were concerned with six months ago, we’ve been able to manage it pretty well.
You see a pathway to a good close to the year and a good outlook for next year.
Q: How do you think about your successor?
A: I think about it a lot.
When I was first named CEO 10 years ago, I was in with the board and they asked me who I thought my successor was going to be. I said, ‘I just got the job, give me a few months first to think about it!’
It’s really, really important. We’ve got a really deep bench of talent at Delta, and when you think about the success we’ve had, it’s not me, it’s the entire team.
I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I’ll be around for a little while longer.
But we’ve got different people with different views, different opportunities; I’m not going to talk about any names at all.
But when the board decides it’s ready for a change, the board will have some great internal talent.
I was the first CEO at Delta in 30 years to be named internally.
Q: Do you hope your successor will be internal?
A: I’m not in charge of naming the successor, but yes my goal would be an internal source.
Q: What does it take to do this CEO job?
A: It’s changed a lot just in the 10 years I’ve been in the role. Leaders are in a very different spot than ever before.
To be successful means you have to be willing to be the face of a brand, to be in the community, to be with your workforce.
It’s a massive constituency base, and I don’t think that constituency base was nearly as activated 10 years ago.
So it’s got to be someone that has the presence, the poise, the confidence, the maturity, the decision capabilities.
These jobs are fully encompassing. You’re out there every single day. We’re a 24/7 operation.
When those calls come in at inopportune times, they’re not calling to see how you’re doing.
The board has a lot of decisions to make, so that’s probably why I’ll be here for a few more years. We’ve got more work to do.
About the Author
As a business reporter, Emma Hurt leads coverage of the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Norfolk Southern and other travel and logistics companies. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she worked as an editor and Atlanta reporter for Axios, a politics reporter for WABE News and a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
